Lopez, former lightweight champion, was confident in his capabilities during the buildup toward the junior welterweight fight January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Once the opening bell rang, however, it was a completely different story.

Stevenson, 29, easily defeated Lopez on points. Judges Max DeLuca, Eric Marlinski, and Steve Weisfeld gave the 2016 Olympic silver medalist 11 out of 12 rounds apiece. Lopez lost his Ring and WBO 140-pound titles.

Lopez Sr. was initially dumbfounded by how his son performed. Looking back, as they prepare for a welterweight title fight against Rolly Romero that DAZN will stream August 22, he believes his son’s performance had nothing to do with the game plan or physical skills.

“It was more mental,” he told Fight Hub TV. “It had to do a lot with how they don’t give my son credit for all the things that he’s done. Not putting him on the pound-for-pound list, you can say he was two-time undisputed, and then you don’t put my son on the pound-for-pound list. That hurts a boxer mentally. My son takes that personal. He gave the fight to Shakur. That wasn’t my son. That was a gift.”

Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) defied the odds by beating Vasiliy Lomachenko to become the lightweight division’s undisputed champ in October 2020. Lopez later defeated Josh Taylor, once again as an underdog, to become a junior welterweight champ in June 2023.

A sharper Lopez won The Ring and WBO 140-pound titles from Taylor, who was the undisputed junior welterweight champ just a few months before that loss.

The Scottish southpaw opted to drop three of his belts rather than face a long list of mandatory challengers.

He was committed to facing Jack Catterall in an immediate rematch until that fell through due to Taylor’s foot injury. Taylor instead opposed Lopez because the WBO named him mandatory challenger.

Lopez Sr. feels as though his son never got his just due following his legacy-defining victories over Lomachenko and Taylor.

His son will get a chance to become champ in a third weight class when he meets Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) for the WBA 147-pound crown next month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Lopez Sr. expects to see a much more impressive version of him against Romero.

“My son is a slick boxer,” he. said. “He didn’t slip a jab. My son doesn’t get hit with the same punch twice or three times. He got hit with that jab all night. This is not a race, this is a marathon. Let’s see what happens five years from now. Let’s see who’s on top.”